Caguiat Delacruz's 'The Tramp' Loops at CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco
At the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco, the artist duo Caguiat Delacruz showcases 'The Tramp', which will be on display until 21 November. This exhibition includes a film from 2026, shot digitally and then transferred to VHS, looping on a Toshiba monitor. The film features Hiroko Tamano, a butoh elder from Berkeley, portraying the Tramp alongside actor Wesley Hrubes and his dog Chips in locations such as Half Moon Bay and Oakland. The project draws inspiration from Charlie Chaplin's Tramp, associated with Fremont's Essanay studio. Additionally, Caguiat and Delacruz's paintings include 'Tramp 1', '2', and 'Tweaker' (2026), while 'The Long Walk' (2026) showcases patterned paper etchings. A review will be published in ArtReview's September 2026 issue.
Key facts
- Caguiat Delacruz's exhibition 'The Tramp' is on view at CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, through 21 November
- The central film 'The Tramp' (2026) was shot digitally, transferred to VHS and loops on a Toshiba television monitor, glitching and fast-forwarding at random intervals
- Viewers watch the film from inside salvaged scenery flats repurposed from the filmset
- Berkeley butoh elder Hiroko Tamano appears in the film in bowler hat and baggy Tramp suit, alongside actor Wesley Hrubes and his dog Chips
- Filming locations include Half Moon Bay's flower fields and Oakland underpasses
- The project recasts Charlie Chaplin's Tramp, immortalised at Essanay's film studio in Fremont, a city now dominated by a Tesla plant
- Paintings by Justin Caguiat and Rafael Delacruz are passed between the artists, per the exhibition pamphlet, dissolving authorship
- The acid-green 'Tramp' canvases derive from black-and-white photographs of the filming process
- A newsprint papier-mâché effigy of Tamano-as-the-Tramp is assembled from yesterday's news
- Justin Caguiat's paintings were shown at Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, in 2021
- Chaplin visited Shanghai in 1936 and was received by Jingju superstar Mei Lanfang
- The review was published in the September 2026 issue of ArtReview
Entities
Artists
- Justin Caguiat
- Rafael Delacruz
- Hiroko Tamano
- Wesley Hrubes
- Chips
- Charlie Chaplin
- Mei Lanfang
- Caguiat Delacruz
Institutions
- CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts
- Essanay
- Tesla
- Taka Ishii Gallery
- Greene Naftali
- Hoffman Donahue
- Modern Art
- ArtReview
- Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts
Locations
- San Francisco
- United States
- Fremont
- Half Moon Bay
- Oakland
- Berkeley
- Bay Area
- Tokyo
- Japan
- Shanghai
- China
- New York
- Los Angeles
- London
- Paris